Orchid House

Orchid House

The Ken Baker Orchid House

Ken Baker was a visionary and a moving force behind the establishment of the Botanic Gardens
Ken worked tirelessly in the 1980’s to convince the then Beaudesert council to allocate the land to the garden club and also undertook the initial design for the gardens

Ken and Muriel Baker in 2006 – tireless workers for Botanic Gardens and Garden Club

After Ken died Muriel donated his orchid collection to the gardens and September 2012 work commenced on clearing a section to build an orchid house as a living memorial to Ken Baker

Brian Davison the curator and his team did a magnificient job of designing and constructing a safe and secure house for the orchids

Many other members donated orchids and Nanette Cresswell and Sonia Wagstaff undertook the care of the rapidly growing collection of orchids

In March 2014 the current Manager of the gardens Roger Lenehan presided at the opening of the Orchid house attended by many members of Ken and Muriel Baker’s family

Some of the wonderful orchids on display

The spectacular Stanhopea nigroviolacea (upside down orchid)
The showy, perfumed flowers are produced at the base of the pseudobulbs and grow vertically downwards through the potting medium and flower underneath the plant